Believe it or not, Olo speaks Chinese. Philip and I had originally suspected this when he starting saying things like, "Moo-Mow!" and "Nee-ow!" They sound very Chinese. So the other day I brought up the subject with a friend of mine who speaks it.

Mu Mao - Means "Furry Spear" - its the sort of thing martial artists call out when entering combat. Apparently Olo is a student of the Furry Spear style of kung fu. It involves lightning quick jabs and lunges with the paw.

Mua Mao - Means "Stroke Fur" - We may have been mishearing him part of the time, or he may just have a very soft 'a' on the end of his mua. Obviously this is a command that needs no explanation.

Ni Hao - Means "Hello"/"How you doing?" - Olo is a very polite cat, he says this particular phrase quite frequently. His 'h' is a bit soft sometimes though.

None of this is terribly surprising, as he is part Asian Leopard Cat after all. It does seem a bit strange that he chose Chinese as his native language instead of Japanese, but we're accepting of it.